Reposted from Vancouver Media Coop:

COMMUNITY SAFETY PROGRAM

“The Vancouver Police Community Safety Program is a three-year pilot project, running from 2013 to 2016. The Community Safety Unit is comprised of 42 special constables (20 full-time and 22 auxiliary members), one staff sergeant, two sergeants and one constable.”

Community Safety members are distinct and separate from regular police members, and they are considered to be a unique element of the police department. The primary purpose of Community Safety personnel is to assist the Vancouver Police Department and enhance service delivery in the community by:

assisting with lower-level, lower-risk tasks, as directed, to alleviate regular police officers from such tasks, thereby providing regular police officers with more capacity to serve the community and to maintain high visibility while patrolling neighbourhoods

assisting the Vancouver Police Department at community and public events by providing a visible presence to the community, to promote safety and security, where the presence of a regular police officer is not required

acting as a liaison between regular police officers and the community, as appropriate, to ensure the Vancouver Police Department continues to effectively serve citizens in Vancouver

assisting police officers in order to maximize their available proactive policing time

HISTORY OF SPECIAL CONSTABLES

From Wikipedia:

“Special Constables were used extensively in Canada prior to the Second World War to quell labour unrest. After the war, industrial relations became far less militant and many of the larger urban police forces created permanent auxiliary units.

The most notorious use of Special Constables in Canadian history was during the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. The entire Winnipeg police force was dismissed because its members refused to sign an anti-union pledge and was replaced by a much larger and better paid force of untrained Special Constables explicitly to end the strike and the police union.”

On Tuesday, January 28th, anarchist grand jury resister Gerald “Jerry” Koch was released from the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. Koch’s release comes over eight months after his imprisonment for refusing to testify before a grand jury convened under the auspices of investigating the so-called bicycle bomber case.

Judge John Keenan, the presiding judge over Jerry’s case, believes that taking the position of a government run amok, using grand juries as a witch hunt is, “a delusion of grandeur.” Judge Keenan goes on:

There is simply no evidence that the Government [sic], threatened by Koch’s subversive prowess, seeks to bring him before the grand jury on a pretext, either to gain access to the treasure trove that is his circle of friends or to send an ominous message to political dissidents.

In reality, the United States government was following a pattern of using grand juries as fishing expeditions in hopes of better understanding social and political networks of anarchists. This tactic has been recently seen in the Pacific Northwest and in California. Regardless, Jerry’s release does not come as a result of some hacky judge “seeing the light” and letting the barred door swing wide. It comes due to the diligence of his legal support in filing a strong Grumbles motion. Also from the judge’s decision:

Koch’s argument is straightforward. Because he continues to oppose the government in general and the grand jury process in particular, he urges that continued confinement will not induce him to testify. Indeed, he asserts that his tenure at the MCC has caused his views about government repression to congeal even further.

Imprisonment for civil contempt in order to coerce someone to testify is, according to the state, not supposed to be punitive. When it becomes punitive and loses any coercive power, the individual must be released (or so goes the argument). The content of the motion filed by Jerry’s legal support argues that the function of Jerry’s imprisonment—to coerce him to testify before the grand jury, was failing and in fact had become merely punitive. Based on the above quote, judge Keenan agreed. And this is the basis of the judge’s decision to release Jerry.

Judge Keenan’s decision also reveals the importance of outside support. Articles written about Jerry, letters written on his behalf, and even an online petition cumulatively added to the strength of the motion filed on his behalf. Strong solidarity from family and friends positively contributed to Jerry’s release.

In reading Judge Keenan’s decision, it is clear that the only joy he is able to squeeze out of his miserable life is in sophomoric barbs launched at Jerry and anarchists in general. And at the end of the day, none of the judge’s childish insults matter. What matters is that we have our comrade returned to us, unbroken.

Again in the words of Judge Keenan, Jerry “has chosen to remain in contempt– indeed he promises continued and endless contempt.” And for that, we applaud you, Jerry. Welcome home.

Activists say direct action to stop the project remains a last resort, but BC’s north wonders: is the RCMP prepared?

By Andrew MacLeod, Jan 24, 2014, TheTyee.ca

There are worries in northern British Columbia that aside from the environmental risks, approval of Enbridge Inc.’s Northern Gateway pipeline proposal and the resulting protests could seriously disrupt the economy in communities along the proposed route.

There are two tests of social change movements: endurance and regeneration. After two decades, Mexico’s Zapatista movement can now say it passed both.

Thousands of Zapatistas turned out this month to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 1994 uprising of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN). At the New Year festivities in the five caracoles, or regional centers of Zapatista autonomous government, veterans and adolescents not yet born at the time of the insurrection danced, flirted, shot off rockets, and celebrated “autonomy”—the ideal of self-government that lies at the heart of the Zapatista experience.

“A woman charged with allegedly selling alcoholic “freezies” at the popular nudist hangout Wreck Beach is the first to face criminal charges in what police say is a crackdown on the open sale of liquor and drugs. Alana Thomson, 31, of Vancouver, had a court date this week to face 14 charges, including several counts of unlawfully selling, advertising and soliciting for orders of “frozen alcoholic beverages, commonly known as freezies,” according to court documents obtained by The Province.”

People posting internet comments have mainly been anger toward the priorities of the RCMP, Lorne Schnell commented:

“She’s a sweet girl, and I’m horrified that the police are charging her and neglecting, say, the string of sexual assaults right up the stairs. She was a part of Wreck culture.”

Brock Simmons writes, “Of course the RCMP still hasn’t caught the repeat sexual predator that was stalking the UBC campus but thank god they nailed the boozy freezy woman to the wall. I can sleep easy tonight.”

UBC RCMP pig Drew Grainger, “There is a lot of drugs and alcohol going on (at Wreck Beach),. “It’s been a challenge for this detachment for many years…… We would be naive to think that there isn’t going to continue to be the sale of drugs and alcohol.”

A challenge? No shit you dumb pig. People drink alcohol and do drugs in public and don’t really give a flying fuck if it’s against the law. Wreck is one of the best places in the summer to relax,enjoy the sunshine, drinks and let loose. The RCMP swine go on to say that they will be stepping up police patrols in the summer to protect us. We don’t need your protection or want you on Wreck Beach.

RCMP Pig, “There’s going to be enhanced police patrols done there, I can guarantee that, throughout the summer months,” he said.

Its time to be smart and not let them ticket our harass us or anyone on the beach. It’s time for the cops to leave us alone and they can continue living a meaningless existence.